Ecophysiology of coral reef primary producers across an upwelling gradient in the tropical central Pacific.

ABSTRACT: Upwelling is an important source of inorganic nutrients in marine systems, yet little is known about how gradients in upwelling affect primary producers on coral reefs. The Southern Line Islands span a natural gradient of inorganic nutrient concentrations across the equatorial upwelling region in the central Pacific. We used this gradient to test the hypothesis that benthic autotroph ecophysiology is enhanced on nutrient-enriched reefs. We measured metabolism and photophysiology of common benthic taxa, including the algae Porolithon, Avrainvillea, and Halimeda, and the corals Pocillopora and Montipora. We found that temperature (27.2-28.7°C) was inversely related to dissolved inorganic nitrogen (0.46-4.63 μM) and surface chlorophyll a concentrations (0.108-0.147 mg m-3), which increased ne

SUBMITTER: Johnson MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6999896 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature